Wine dinner will compare and contrast Italian, California wines

Feb. 27, 2014

Carlos Chavez / MCT

Written by

Pete

Martin

An upcoming wine dinner at The Lazy Goat will showcase Italian and California wines and encourage diners to understand the differences — and similarities — between the two.

The dinner — the menu for which has not been finalized — will feature wines from Marchesi Antinori of Italy and Antica Napa Valley in California. Antinori has been producing wines in Italy for hundreds of years. Antica, owned by Antinori, was developed on 1,200 acres in 1993; its first production was in 2001.

Aimee Maher, acting general manager of The Lazy Goat and beverage director for Table 301, hopes the tasting will encourage people to think differently about wine and expand their knowledge. The dinner will include three food and wine pairings with two wines each — one from California, one from Italy.

It’s not a competition between the two regions, Maher said. Both wineries are under the leadership of Marchese Piero Antinori.

“We don’t want this to be California vs. Italy,” Maher said. “It’s the same producer. There’s no competition here. We want people to see the difference between what he does in Italy and what he does in California.”

Because The Lazy Goat specializes in Old World wines, and Soby’s, another Table 301 restaurant, specializes in New World wines, Maher thought it would be interesting — and fun — to merge the two concepts.

“Dinner will be a nice comparison of New World and Old World wines,” she said.

First up will be a Guado al Tasso Estate vermentino, a white grape variety known for elegant, aromatic fruity notes. It will be paired with an Antica Napa Valley chardonnay.

“The rocky soils in California are just great for cab,” Maher said. “But I think those who have never ventured into an Italian cab before might be pleasantly surprised.”

The third pairing, Maher said, may include an expensive, hard-to-find Antica Napa Valley Townsend Vineyard cabernet — “not a tease, but a treat,” she said — alongside a Guado al Tasso Super Tuscan.

“It will be interesting to see the same varietal expressed in two different ways,” Maher said.

Throughout the dinner, Glenn Salva, estate manager for Antica, will talk about the wines being poured. About 40 reservations are available.

“I want it to be a great experience,” Maher said. “Wine dinners should be about the experience — about getting to play with wines. This is a wine dinner, but we are going to feed you really well while you’re there.”